


The New Agent

by random_is_awsome



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-13
Updated: 2014-07-15
Packaged: 2017-11-29 03:57:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/682489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/random_is_awsome/pseuds/random_is_awsome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agent Emily Grace is the new agent at SHEILD. she despises the super villan Loki for waging war agains her home and also because she finds out that he had been the reason her life got destroyed several years ago. To make matters worse she finds herself falling in love with Thor, Lokis brother. Thor/OC</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I figured I had the worst luck ever. I had just passed the field exam and became a shield agent less than two days ago, I was also only twenty which made me one of the youngest members of SHEILD, and I was already taking part in a level four emergency evacuation of the main SHEILD headquarters. Generally I was fine with all the evacuation drills we had to practice during training but with the voice over the speakers repeating that "All agents proceed with emergency evacuation. This is not a drill" I was definitely freaking out.I was helping three agents with some of the equipment when my pager came to life. The message read "Agent Emily Grace, Director Fury wants you down at the lab immediately." The lab. I had absolutely no idea where it was. Helplessly I looked around till I caught sight of Agent Coulson, one of the few agents who I was familiar with. I got his attention and called him over.

"The director wants me down in the lab. How exactly do I get there?" I asked him

."The lab?" he asked looking slightly shocked. I found that really weird because very few things can shock Coulson.

"Are you sure that's what he said?" he continued. I nodded and showed him the page which I had received. Looking a little more surprised he led me to an elevator, the elevator I was told to steer clear of because wherever it led was above my pay grade, and swiped a security card. "Take this lift down to the lab" he said. "And be careful" he added before walking off.Before I could enter the elevator I had to go through three separate security scans- a fingerprint scan, a DNA test and a retinal scan to confirm that I was an agent. After all the scanners confirmed that I was Agent Emily Grace, the doors silently slid open and I stepped in. There was no control panel but I figured that the elevator had only one destination. As the doors automatically closed I pushed a strand of my black hair if my face while wondering what the Director could possibly want with a rookie like me.As I reached the lab level, I could hear two people arguing a little distance away. One voice I recognized as one my mentors Agent Hill. The other voice was definitely a male so I safely assumed that it was the Directors. I walked down the stairs and turned the corner to see the Director and Agent Hill facing each other.

"Is that really a priority right now?" Hill said. Hill was probably the only person who could argue with the Director

."Until a time comes when the earth stops spinning we will act as though it intends to spin on!" replied Fury almost yelling. "I want all Phase 2 equipment on a truck and out of here." He ordered.

"Yes sir" replied Hill reluctantly and walked of taking two agents with her.The Director was about to walk away when he sensed my presence and turned around. He saw me standing at the bottom of the staircase and I froze under his stare.

"Agent Grace" he said.

"Sir" I replied, wondering how the hell fury knew my name. "I received a message that you wanted to see me."

"Yes I need help evacuating all the scientists from the lab and safely removing them from the premises."

"But sir, me?" I asked him, shocked that he would ask a rookie to do such an important job."

"Yes." he said sharply. "I need someone who they trust and since your mother was actively part of the initial tesseract project I'm quite sure all the people in the lab will trust her daughter. Now follow me Agent."

Still surprised I followed Fury to the lab. The sudden mention of my mom brought about many depressing and painful memories like her disappearing for days on end for missions or the times when she home sometimes extremely bruised or injured. But the worst memory it brought out was the day she left for a mission in New Mexico saying that she would be coming home soon but died along with four other agents facing a machine called The Destroyer.I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice that we had entered a larger room until I almost walked into the Director who had abruptly stopped in front of me. I noticed a short balding man approach us.Fury turned to the man.

"Dr Selvig," he said. "What is the situation?"

"The Tesseract is, ah, active" replied the doctor. "Follow me" he said and started walking towards his computer. Whatever was on it must have been highly classified because before he followed the doctor, Fury ordered me to stay where I was until I received further orders.I was looking at all the complex equipment when I noticed that Agent Barton had joined Fury and Selvig. He must have also seen me because when I looked in his direction he gave me a small wave. Clint and I had become good friends during my training because he would come down to the training room a few times each week and teach the recruits how to shoot. He had tried to teach me how to shoot with a bow a few times but we both pretty soon found out that I was much better with knives. Thinking about that I absently ran my hand over the hilts of all my 8 of knives that were attached to my belt.

"It's spiking again doctor." one of Selvig's assistants called out. I spun around on my heel when suddenly the Tesseract threw out a massive bolt of energy and even from a meter away i was blown of my feet.


	2. Chapter 2

As the glow from the blast cleared the room became extremely dark. The only sources of light in the entire room were the dimmed backup lights and the faint glow of the tesseract. As my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting I noticed a man standing at the epicenter of the blast. I pulled my self onto my feet and then pulled my gun out of its holster when noticed that Fury, Barton and the guards who had come in the lab after the blast had theirs out. The man straightened out. In his hand was a scepter that gave out a light much like the tesseract.  When he noticed that he was surrounded by guns his eyes shone and a creepy smile played in his lips. He raised his scepter and shot out three very powerful blasts of energy around the room. My gun flew from my hand and I got thrown of my feet _again_ but this time an entire row of workstations fell with me and one landed very painfully on my legs. The man surveyed the damage done to the room and looked very pleased with himself. Of the 18 people that were in the room only Fury, Barton, Selvig, two guards and a researcher were left standing and almost all the computers, benches and shelves were thrown to the ground.

Fury took a step towards the man. "Identify yourself" he said

"I am Loki of Asgard."

"Loki," said Selvig looking surprised "Thors brother."

I had never heard of Loki but I knew Thor was because he was on the potential threat list which every new agent had to memorize. But I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing a very important piece of information. Fury said it "Wait a minute are you telling me this is the guy who was responsible for the incident with the Destroyer in New Mexico four years ago?" The words Fury said hit me really hard. It felt as though someone had punched me in the chest. I couldn’t breathe. I was less than 6 feet away from the guy who killed my mom. I wanted to jump at him and strangle him with my bare hands. I probably would have if I wasn’t stuck under this stupid table.

"Im so glad you remember that incident!" Loki said smiling and looking very pleased with himself. "You humans seem to know a lot about me"

"What are you doing here?" asked Barton. "We have no disagreement with your people."

 "Ah but I am here to free this planet." Loki said. In the dimmed light he looked extremely evil.

"Free us from what exactly?" said Barton

Loki walked towards Barton. "From freedom." he said. He looked at Barton carefully. "You have heart." he said and then poked his scepter against Barton chest. Barton stiffened and his back arched. _Oh my god, he killed Barton._ I thought. Then I noticed the veins in his neck and his eyes were glowing blue. When the glow faded Barton’s  body went slack. For a moment it seemed as though he was going to fall over. Then he suddenly straightened. He looked quite normal except for his eyes which were blue instead of grey. He then glanced at his gun and put it back in its holster. _What the hell was he doing!_

"Thats better." Loki said turning towards Selvig

I looked around the room and saw Fury inching away from Selvig and towards the tesseract. They needed help. I looked down at the tables that were on my leg hoping that I could somehow untangle myself from the mess. But after careful examination my heart sank. I knew I could easily free my legs but it would be too noisy and Loki would hear me.  I was stuck. I could hear Loki talking un the background.

"Freedom is life’s greatest lie. When you accept that in your heart you will know peace" he said and then I heard Selvig gasp. I turned around and saw Selvig glow blue for a moment. He too then straightened out and stood behind Loki. Fury had, by then reached the tesseract and out it in a briefcase. He was about to walk out with it when Loki spun to face him

"I still need that." Loki said.

"I don’t think that is possible." Fury said clutching the briefcase tightly.

Barton turned to Loki "We need to hurry sir, the portal is about to collapse."

"Well then you know what to do." Loki told Barton who pulled out his gun and shot the director. He then walked towards the briefcase, picked it up and then followed Loki out of the room.

The minute their footsteps died I threw the table off my legs and rushed to the director. Thankfully he appeared to be alright and was already pulling the bullet out of his vest and barking orders into his radio. He seemed surprised to see me standing.

"Are you alright sir?" I asked him

"Im fine." He replied. "Follow me" he said. "And hurry. We don’t have much time.

I ran after the director and followed him to a helicopter which was waiting at the helipad outside. We jumped on just in the nick of time as just as the helicopter lifted off the ground started to collapse inwards. We flew for a while until Fury spotted Loki in a SHIELD van. He threw me a gun and started shooting. Loki noticed us and shot a bolt of energy to the chopper. The wings exploded and the helicopter flew out of control. Fury and I both leapt out and rolled away just before the engine exploded.  By then the van was already out of sight.

"Hill, give me a casualty report" he said to into his radio and paused for a moment listening to the reply. "Alright get a search and rescue team setup. This is a level 7. From this moment on we are at war. Coulson send me air transport and meet me back at base, and Coulson.” He said pausing for a moment, as if he thought he may regret just saying it “Assemble the Avengers."


	3. Chapter 3

_ On Asgard _

**Thors P.o.V**

I was seated on my father's throne but still, even after four years, I uncomfortable taking his place as the king of Asgard. I had no choice. Ever since Loki disappeared from the nine realms fathers' condition rapidly deteriorated. He became extremely unwell and fell into a deep sleep ever so often that was forced to take over. At present he had just woken from the last time but was too weak to even speak.

Suddenly one of the guards rushed into the room. "My lord." he said and bowed.

"Rise," I said "What is the matter?"

"The gatekeeper, Hemidall seeks your audience. He tells me that the matter is urgent."

"Send him in." I said while I tried not to appear as worried as I was. The occurrence of Hemidall leaving the Bifrost and entering the palace was very rare and he would only do so if there was serious trouble in one of the realms. Hemidall entered the room and bowed slightly.

"What is wrong, Hemidall?" I asked him

"My lord, your brother's presence has returned to the realms." He said. At first I couldn't believe my ears. After all these years my brother had returned!

"Where is he now?" I asked starting to feel exited and relived that Loki was in fact alive.

"He is, at present, on Midgard." Hemidall replied.

"Loki is on Earth?"I asked surprised that from all the realms Loki would go there.

"But that is not all, I believe that from what I have seen Loki has taken possession of the Tesseract and means to wage a war against Midgard." The words Hemidall spoke silenced me for a few moments then I made a decision on what to do.

"I must travel to Midgard as fast as possible to stop Loki from doing anything foolish. "Hemidall, is there any way you can send me there?"

Hemidall thought for a moment before speaking. "With the Bifrost gone I'm afraid the any transport between the Asgard and the other realms will be very difficult and may take several weeks to arrange."

Hearing this, my heart sank. Loki was about to destroy his own life and the lives of millions of humans and I could do nothing to prevent it from happening.

"There has to be _some_ way." I said refusing to accept defeat.

"There is." A voice from behind me said. Hemidall looked over my shoulder and when he saw the speaker he sank to one knee.

"Father," I said recognizing his voice. He held his hand indicating that I should wait and then turned to Hemidall.

"Tell one of the guards outside to inform all the council members and elders that there is a meeting in the palace and that they must come here immediately." Hemidall bowed slightly and left the room.

"Father, are you sure you can..."

"Not now Thor," he said. "Time is of essence. I may not be fully healed yet but Loki must be stopped."

"But Father what can be done. There is now way to travel to Midgard anymore now that the Bifrost is gone."

"That is not true." Father said "There is a way with dark energy."

"Dark energy?" I asked for I had never known it could be used to travel.

"Yes." Father replied. "In the old days before the Bifrost dark energy was the only way to travel. When the council and I realized that dark energy couldn't be controlled we created the Bifrost. After that all of the dark energy present in the nine realms was destroyed except, that is, for a few traces that the council members kept for situations like this."

By the time father explained this to me almost all the council members had assembled in the room. They all looked shocked to see my father present.

He addressed them. "Council members we have a dire situation in hand and one of the realms in need of assistance." He then turned to me. "Thor can you explain the situation?"

I faced the council and gave them a brief explanation of what was happening on Midgard and told them what Hemidall told me. Then my father voiced his idea of using the dark energy to transport me to Midgard. A small argument broke out but quickly faded. The council members finally came to the agreement that my father's idea would be followed and that they would collect all the traces of dark energy that could be found. My father assured me that I should take too long and told me to wait with Hemidall on the Bifrost.

The wait was very brief. Within almost no time at all, my father had brought the collected dark energy to the Bifrost.

"Are you ready my lord?" Hemidall asked me as he took the dark energy from my father. I nodded and stood at the edge of the Bifrost. Hemidall released the energy and for a moment I was engulfed in a blue glow before I was thrown into space and was headed to Midgard.

_ On Earth _

**Emilys P.o.V**

As the adrenalin rush from before faded, all my wounds began to catch up with me. By the time we reached the heli-carrier, shields new headquarters I felt like I felt like I was about to pass out my legs were aching and my head was throbbing. I slowly wobbled down the stairs of the jet but the moment I let go of the railing my legs gave way and I almost collapsed. Coulson, who was waiting for us on the runway saw this and immediately called the medical team to take me to the infirmary. On the way, though I passed out.

It was hours later when I came to but I was feeling much, much better. I looked onto the bedside table and noticed a fresh shield suit laid out with a note on top saying that Fury wanted to see me in the main control room when I was feeling fine. I slowly stood and tested my legs to see if they would take my weight. I felt slightly dizzy for a few moments but it passed quickly. I grabbed the suit and quickly slipped into it. I then got directions to the control room from one of the medical staff and then made my way there.

When I reached Fury and Agent Natasha Romanoff were in the middle of a discussion. When Fury saw me he called me over and quickly made introductions. Agent Romanoff I already knew, though, the same way I knew Barton.

"So what's up?" I asked.

"Well," Natasha said "I was telling fury that there is no way I can fly the jet by myself. I need a co pilot." She paused for a moment and then her face lit up. She turned to me. "Em, you can fly cant you?"

I turned to see I she was kidding but her face was dead serious. "Yeah," I said slowly. "But I have only flown in training. I'm not sure if I'll be able to fly out there."

Fury thought for a moment. He didn't look very pleased to be sending me but he said "It will have to do or we may lose him again."

"Lose whom" I said confused. "Where are we even going?"

"To Stuttgart, in Germany." Natasha told me as I followed her to the jet. "We just found Loki there. "


	4. Chapter 4

"Hurry up Cap." Natasha said from somewhere behind me. She had left me to get accustomed to the jet while she had gone to get someone, probably the person she was calling 'Cap'. I had been thrown into this mission so suddenly and unexpectedly that I had no time to think of being nervous. But now as I sat alone in the jet beads of sweat started to form on my forehead and my hand started shaking uncontrollably. I was getting really nervous. I heard two pairs of feet coming towards the jet. I twisted in my seat to see who was coming. In a few moments Natasha walked in followed by a very built guy. When I got a good look at him my mouth dropped. Standing in front of me was the legendary Capitan America. Seeing my expression Natasha gave a small chuckle.

"Em, I would like you to meet Steve Rogers." She said. I tried to wipe the shock from my face and stood to accept the Capitan extended hand.

"Ma'am." he said shaking my hand

"Capitan." I replied. Nat was already in the pilot seat and talking into the headset, probably taking orders from Fury.

"Okay time to go." She said after a few seconds. I hopped back into the copilot seat and slipped on my headset.

"Hey Nat." I said then dropped my voice. "How is he here?" I asked

She flicked a few switches and was about to say something when Fury's voice blasted over the radio.

"Why is that jet still on the runway?" Damn I forgot he was there. Natasha groaned slightly.

"I'll tell you after takeoff." She said and then noticed my shaking hands. "Your first real flight?" she asked.

"Yeah." I replied while dabbed the sweat of my brow and tried to control my trembling hands."Im scared as hell."

"Dont be" she said."Theres nothing to it. Just like in training. You know the takeoff protocol right?" Too nervous to say anything I just nodded and gripped the handle of the control stick.

"Why dont I see that plane in the air yet?" demanded Fury over the comm. God he was really starting to annoy me. Natasha and rolled her eyes again. Without even looking she flicked two more switches and pressed a button. The engines roared to life and the jet rolled out on the runway. I glanced at the speedometer and waited for it to reach 100. The moment it did I pressed a button to my left and pulled back hard on the joystick. Natasha did the same and the jet lifted off the runway. The jet leveled out in a few minutes and then Natasha pressed another button. The jet immediately sped up to a speed a little below supersonic. Even though I had flown these jet millions of times their speed always amazed me.

"So you were asking about Steve?" she said

"Yeah. I couldn't figure out why he was here. I mean didn't they just revive him less than a year ago?"

"You really don't know about the Avengers, do you?" she said. My confused expression must have spoken for me. Natasha trained her eyes to the open sky ahead of us and thought for a few minutes trying to reach a decision. After a minute or two she sighed and switched the mike of her headset off and indicated that I should do the same. When both of our mikes were off she started to speak.

"I'm not sure that you are supposed to know what I'm going to tell you, especially since Fury hasn't told you this yet. But if you are going to be working with us you deserve to know so listen carefully."

In the span of the next 30 minutes Nat told me about the Avengers Initiative which was a plan designed by Fury which was to bring together a group of people, known to the civilians as 'superheroes', to protect the world if any problem arose that normal people couldn't handle. She also told me that the initiative was scrapped I while ago because the council believed that the people that Fury recruited were too unpredictable. She also told me, in a much quieter voice, that as a replacement for the avengers the council created phase two which was a project to create weapons from the Tesseract power.

We flew in silence for the next few miles as I digested the information. I really didn't know what to say. I was going to ask her to tell me more but our GPS beeped indicating that we had reached our destination.

"What the hell!" Natasha said looking down. There was a massive group of people running out of a mansion. Suddenly I saw a glowing blue orb.

"There he is." I said recognizing it as Loki's scepter.

"You ready Cap?" Natasha said turning to Steve

"Yup." He said as he picked up his shield and pressed the button which opened the door. "Just circle around in case things get out of hand. Okay?"

"Got it." Natasha said. The Capitan then grabbed a parachute and jumped off. I turned back to the scene down on the ground and couldn't contain my gasp. There were seven Lokis surrounding the group of people and one of them was forcing the crowd to kneel. Suddenly an old man stood and Loki turned to him. There was a pause and the Loki lifted his scepter and aimed it at the man. I looked in horror because I was sure that the man was going to die. Loki released a blast and it was about to hit the man. At the last minute, right before the man would have been reduced to nothing, the Capitan landed out of nowhere and intercepted the blast. I let out a breath of relief. Natasha too seemed to have been holding her breath. A heartbeat later the fighting began.

"Well let's join the party" Natasha said and then lowered the jet by a few meters so we were just above the fighting zone. She pressed a button which opened out the guns. A few minutes into the fight, the Capitan's shield flew out of his reach

"he needs help." I said

"I can't get a clear shot." Natasha said "I may end up hitting Steve instead." Then all of a sudden rock music blared over the PA system.

"Missed me Agent Romanoff?" a voice said. I recognized the voice but couldn't place it. I turned to Natasha who was smiling slightly

"Who..." I started to say the followed Natasha's eyes till i saw a yellow streak across the sky. At first i thought it was a comet but it suddenly turned and started flying towards us. That's when i saw an unmistakable flash of red and gold. Ironman's colors.

"Is that really Ironman?" i asked Natasha

"The one and only." she replied as he swooped down and flew right past the jet. He then sent a powerful blast from one of his repulsors towards Loki making the god fall backwards. Ironman then landed and a large array of weapons appeared out of his suit. Loki slowly lifted his hands as a sign of defeat and his armor faded away.

"Hello again Agent Romanoff." Tony Stark said over our overridden PA system. "You might need to land that jet so we can haul this guy back to base dont you think?" Natasha muttered a few obscenities in Russian before dropping down a few more meters and landing the jet with the expert ease. I got up and punched the 'Open' button near the door and the Capitan and Ironman pushed Loki in.

In a few minutes we were back in the air all of a sudden a few storm clouds began to collect around the jet and there was a small crack of lightening a small distance away.

"This was not in the weather forecast." Natasha said looking extremely puzzled.

"It doesn't look too bad." i said. Then suddenly we could hear Steve and Tony arguing loudly. Natasha groaned.

"I should break that up." she said

"Wait a minute. You want me to take over?"

"Its either this or breaking up that fight." she replied. Breaking up a fight between two superheroes or flying a jet into a freak storm. Tough call.

"You know what." i said. "I think I'll be fine here." Natasha gave a slight smile and then got up and headed out of the cockpit. In a few moments the yelling stopped. I wasn't doing that bad either. After Natasha left my training kicked in and i seemed to subconsciously know what to do. The storm was getting worse though and I was starting to get worried. Suddenly theere was a loud thud on the right wing.

"What the hell was that?" I yelled.

"I think there is something on the wing." Stark said and then went to the door and pushed the open button. He looked out and was thrown back. There was another thud followed by footsteps entering the jet. I heard a small yelp from Loki and I quickly glanced back to see a figure jump out of the jet with our hostage.

"We need a plan Stark." Steve said. In reply Tony's visor slid shut and he jumped out of the jet in pursuit.

"You might want to stay out of this Cap." Natasha told him

"I dont think that is possible." he replied. "I can't let any of them kill each other." Saying that he jumped out of the jet after Iron Man


	5. Chapter 5

"What just happened there?" I asked Natasha as she stumbled back into the cockpit.

"Our hostage was just kidnapped." She replied while she got back into her seat looking a bit shocked.

"God, Fury is going to _kill_ us if we lose Loki isn't he?"

"That is _if_ we lose him." she said. "I mean both Tony and Cap have gone after him. I'm pretty sure they will get him back."

"I hope so." I said. "Don't you think we should help them?"

"Its two superheroes against a god. Don't worry. They'll be fine."

"I guess so." I said.

"And Loki can't do anything without his scepter here." She added pointing at the staff that we took from Loki.

"Wait if Loki isn't the god they are fighting then who are you talking about?" I asked getting confused.

"Thor. He's the guy who took Loki. Anyway we should hover around till they have Loki again."

I nodded in agreement then asked "But how will we find them. They could be anywhere." Then there were the unmistakable flashes of Ironman's repulsors. "Well that was easy" I muttered as Natasha turned the jet towards the blasts.

**Thors P.o.V**

Rescuing my brother from the custody of the Midgardians was one of the easiest things I have ever done. As I flew Loki began struggling in my grasp so I aimed for one of the small hills and landed there. Loki rolled away from me, struggled to his feet and dusted himself off. I threw Mjolnir to the ground and grasped his shoulders.

"Brother, we thought you were dead." I told him. Loki sneered.

"Did you grieve at my loss?" He spat. The venom in his voice surprised me.

"Of course we did" I said. "Our father…"

"He is _not_ my father." Loki cut in. "Didn't he tell you of my real parentage?" hearing Loki say this made me remember when my father, in his weakened state, had explained to me that Loki was not an Odinson but the son of Laufey, the former king of the frost giants.

"You _are_ my brother, frost giant or not." I told Loki who sneered again

"Your sentimental values prevent you from seeing the truth _Odinson._ " Loki spat back

"No brother, they do not." I said refusing believe that Loki considered me no longer family. "Listen to me..." then from nowhere a force banged into me and carried me off the hill. I was thrown to the ground. Standing above me was my attacker, a man of iron. I pulled myself up.

"Do not touch me again" I warned him.

"Then don't take my stuff."

"Your _stuff_?" I said confused. The Man of Iron nodded his head towards Loki. This infuriated me. How dare he relate to my brother as his 'stuff'? I tried to calm my mind. I wasn't here to fight

"I am here to take Loki home." I said in my most composed voice.

"Yeah not going to happen. Sorry goldilocks but Loki stays here until we get the Tesseract back so till the keep out of this." Hearing the human say this made whatever control I had managed to conjure shatter. I roared to the skies and Mjolnir flew into my hand. I concentrated for a moment and then sent a powerful bolt of lightning towards the Iron clad man. He froze for a moment as the bolt struck and looked at his hands. Then all of a sudden he sent my bolt back to me. Since when did Midgardians have that power? This angered me further. Seeing that my lightening would do no harm, I charged to the man. Before I could strike though, the man flew to me and lifted me off the ground. We struggled for a few minutes, banging against the jagged sides of the hills. Finally I managed to force the man to land. The few wounds I had received were already healing. I grabbed one of the iron clad hands and was determined to crush it when some object collided with my head. I turned to the direction of the source of the object. There was a very strangely dressed human standing on a large branch if one of trees. The object, which appeared to be a shield of some sort, flew back into his hand after hitting the head of the man of iron.

"You know, I would let you continue with your little fight here but unfortunately we have more important thing to deal with. Namely trying to stop Loki from taking over the world." the human said and then jumped down from the branch.

"Aw come on. Your such a party pooper Steve." the man of iron whined.

"Shut up Stark." 'Steve' said. "You must be Thor." he then said turning to me.

"I am." I replied. "What do you have planned for Loki?" The man of iron was about to say something but was cut off by a glare from the man addressed as Steve.

"We mean no harm towards Loki." Steve said. "We just need him in custody till he gives us back the Tesseract." This was the second time I was being told that the Midgardians no longer had the Tesseract in their possession.

"Are you telling me that Loki has taken the Tesseract?" I asked. Hemidall had told me this earlier but I wanted to hear it from a human as I still found it too hard to believe that Loki would do such a horrible thing.

"Yes." the man addressed as Stark replied. "Why do you think we were hauling him back to base?"

From above there was the sound of a jet passing. The jet flew overhead and landed behind the hill which Loki was on.

"Thats our ride." the ironman said.

"Yes it is." 'Steve' said. Then he turned to me. "You coming?" he asked me

"Wait a second, _he_ isinvited?" 'Stark' said. Steve sighed.

"Yes Stark he is." Steve said as though he was talking to a child and then turned to me for my answer. I knew I had to go with them because I needed to stay near Loki and prevent him from doing anything that would bring harm to anyone. He also knew where the Tesseract was and since it was the only way to go home this seemed to be the best course of action.

"I will come with you." I decided but I made it a point to show them that I was not entirely pleased with doing so

"Alright then. Let's go get Loki." Steve said

**Emilys P.o.V**

The guys reached the jet not to long after we had landed. Well not exactly landed. Natasha decided to just hover a few feet above the ground. I could tell she didn't want to go through the whole take off process again. Thankfully she didn't leave me in charge of the jet again. Instead she sent me to help the guys board the jet.

Unfortunately the first person who was sent up to me was Loki. The mixture of his freezing hands and the fact that I was positively repulsed by the thought if touching him nearly made me drop the god. But thankfully I didn't. Steve came up after Loki. I thought Stark would just fly up but instead he held his hand up so I could pull him in.

"Umm can't you just fly in?" I asked him. I was pretty sure that Tony in his suit was not going to be a light load

"I would but Goldie over here crushed my repulsor." Tony whined.

"Goldie?" I asked

"Thor" Steve translated. "Don't worry Emily, I'll take it from here." He told me and then grabbed Tony's hand and hauled him up. _Why would they bring Thor back with them?_ I thought to myself as I tried to get a better look. I couldn't see much though because all the lights in the jet were off so that we didn't attract any unwanted attention. The moment Steve pulled Thor into the jet we shot up and Natasha switched on the lights. A small gasp escaped my lips when I looked at Thor. He was like nothing that I had expected. There was no photograph in his file and when I found out that he was Lokis brother I had sort of let my imagination run wild and create gruesome appearances for him. But now looking at him, only one word popped into my mind to describe him - beautiful. I suddenly noticed that I was staring when Steve cleared his throat and tony made a gagging sound. My cheeks slightly reddened.

"I don't believe I have had the pleasure of your acquaintance." Thor said as he stepped up to me and placed a kiss on my hand. My blush deepened and my brain wasn't able to form a complete sentence which made me want to bang my head against a wall because it never _ever_ happened to me. Luckily I was able to regain my composure.

"I'm Emily, Emily grace." I said though my voice seemed a bit squeakier than it usually was.

"Hey Em. You might want to get back in the cockpit. I can't fly this jet by myself." Nat called out saving me from another embarrassing situation. I quickly excused myself and hurried back into the co pilots seat.

"Bad person to have a crush on" Natasha said the moment I sat in my seat.

"Huh?" I said drawing a blank expression. Was I that transparent? Natasha just looked at me. Her expression clearly said _"do you think that is going to work on me?"_

"Okay." I said holding my hands up in defeat. "So why is Thor a bad person to have a crush on then?" I asked her.

"Well it is kind of a long story but basically he has this other human girlfriend in New Mexico, Jane, who he is completely in love with." She said.

"Oh." I said feeling slightly dejected. Then suddenly I felt like someone was watching me. I turned to see Lokis eyes trained onto me and a cold smile was playing on his lips.


	6. Chapter 6

Emilys P.o.V

Throughout the whole trip I could feel Lokis stare on my back as though he was trying to extract information from my head. My mental shields automatically went up. Loki seemed to get amused by this. I was relieved when we finally reached the Helicarrier. I could see Fury waiting for us on the runway with twenty or so agents.

"Hey Loki, your welcoming party is here." Natasha called out to him while punching the 'Open Doors' button. Loki simply smirked at this. The moment the doors opened the agents flooded in with their guns drawn, surrounded Loki and marched off with him. This happened so fast that no one had any time to register what was going on.

"Where are they taking him?" I wondered out loud as the group disappeared into the interior of the Helicarrier.

"The Cage." Natasha said. I flicked a switch to turn down the engines and looked at her for a further explanation. She sighed and turned around to make sure the jet was empty. "There was a cage built into the carrier when we figured that we may need to bring Doctor Banner in. Fury thought that it's the best place to keep Loki imprisoned since it's near impossible to break out of that cage."

"Yes." said Fury from behind us. I nearly jumped out of my seat at his sudden appearance but Natasha seemed used to him suddenly appearing. "Now that Loki is secure I suggest the both of you report straight to the control room." he said and walked out.

By the time we had parked the jet and reached the control room Fury and Stark were in the middle of an argument.

"I don't care you had no reason to attack him!" Fury yelled.

"He stole our hostage!" Tony yelled back. They were probably arguing about Starks little fight with Thor. I automatically looked around the room and caught sight of the god talking to Coulson near a computer which had an image of a woman and the name 'Jane Foster' written below it on its display.

"His girlfriend." Natasha whispered when she saw me staring.

"Yeah I kinda figured that out." I told her. That feeling of dejection started taking over again but I quickly crushed it down. Fury and Stark were still yelling at each other and Natasha cleared her throat to announce our arrival. Fury glanced in our direction and gave a nod of acknowledgment before giving Stark such a terrifying glare that made Stark smartly back away.

"Right." Fury said once Thor and Coulson joined us. "Now that we are all here let's get started." He then went on about all the rules and regulations and all the normal protocols which were pretty much the same as the ones we had back at the main base. It was probably just for the new members on board because in no time at all I was extremely bored. As I pretended to pay attention to what Fury was saying I let my eyes wander around Natasha and Coulson looked as bored as I was. Out of the two superheroes and the god the only person who was really paying attention was Steve. Tony was absently toying with his crushed repulsor and Thor was tapping his fingers on his hammer.

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, Fury finished explaining rules and got on to telling us what our jobs were. The Capitan and Thor were both on call for emergencies, Tony was supposed to go to the lab and help Dr Banner out in locating the Tesseract, and both Natasha and Coulson were to run a background check on Loki and find out if they can find ways to make the god cooperate. I had to first take Tony, Steve and Thor, who everyone was just calling Avengers now, to their respective rooms on the lower floors and report back to Fury for further orders. After Fury finished speaking everyone stood up. I started to get up too but my head started spinning and I fell back into my chair. All my aches and pains from the previous day returned and I could barely hold myself up.

"You know what Agent Grace, there has been a change in your orders." Coulson said when he saw my state. "You are going to show the Avengers to their rooms and go straight to bed, you aren't fully healed." I made a feeble attempt an arguing with him but I easily gave in. I was exhausted.

"Wait here, I need to give you something." Natasha told me and disappeared into one of the rooms in the control room. I slipped back into my seat and waited for her. She returned in a few minutes carrying a few papers in her hands.

"The sheet on top," she said handing me the pile "is a plan of the Helicarrier to help you get around and the sheet below it is a list of the rooms that you guys are going to be staying in. Got it?"

"Yeah." I replied "Thanks Nat." she smiled and then seemed to suddenly remember something.

"Oh and I almost forgot your communicator." She said handing me a small device. My mouth fell open. No rookie was ever given a comm.

"Thanks." I stammered while looking at the device in my hands. Natasha smiled again and then glanced at her watch

"Well, got to go." She said and then hurried into one of the doors on the far side of the room. I spread out the plan on the table and looked at it for a moment. The rooms were on the floor four levels below us so I looked for the nearest elevator. It took me a few minutes but I finally found it.

"Ok guys, follow me." I said to the three men and stood up. I must have done it too quickly because I stumbled after a few steps. I would have fallen face first if two strong hands hadn't broken my fall. The moment I was steady again I turned to see who the person who saved me was and found myself looking at Thors face. A blush immediately crept onto my cheeks.

"Umm, thanks." I muttered and tried to squeeze out of his grasp. But Thor held on firmly.

"You seem to be in a weakened state." He said "Would you need to be carried?"

"Carried?" I stammered. Being so close to Thor made my mind start to fog. Thor nodded. "No…no I'm fine. Just a little dizzy." I took a deep breath to clear my mind. I squirmed again and this time managed to remove myself from Thors arms. He didn't look to convinced that I was fine though so I straightened myself out and made an attempt to walk towards the elevator again. Thankfully I didn't fall this time. I turned around. None of the three men had moved and they were just staring at me uncertainly.

"What are you guys waiting for?" I asked them. They still seemed worried about me so I added "We better hurry. Fury will get really pissed if you guys are late." This shook them out of their daze and the quickly started following me.

The walk to the elevator was a short one but by the end of it I felt completely drained. I leaned against the wall as the elevator slowly came up to our floor. Steve and Thor were staring at the machine in awe. I saw Tony smirking at this. I would have probably burst out laughing if I wasn't so exhausted but I managed a smile. Finally the elevator arrived and we all filed in. I punched the button for our floor and leaned against the side of the elevator. While we were waiting for the elevator to reach our floor I opened out the plan again. The word 'Confidential' was plastered over the plan along with a few handwritten notes in Natasha's handwriting. I quickly glanced through the notes which were basically telling me to explain the layout of the Helicarrier to the Avengers.

The elevators sudden halt took my attention away from the plan. The doors silently slid open and we all got off into an endless corridor of rooms. I pulled out the list which had our room numbers written on it.

"131." I muttered reading out the first number and walked ahead until I found the room. "This is you, Tony." I said looking at the list again. "I'm in 132 and in 133 is" I gulped "Thor." This was not good. "Steve, you're in the room after that." I managed to say while trying very hard to hide my emotions. Thor was going to be in the room right next to me. I didn't know whether I should be happy or sad about that though. The men were about to go into their rooms when I suddenly remembered that I had to explain the layout to them.

"Hey guys, can I have a second?" I said. "I need to explain the layout of the Helicarrier to you." The three of them gathered around me. "Okay, listen up. Level 1 is the lab; where you are supposed to go Tony. The level below that, Level 0 is the control room. -1 is the storage room and weapons storage area. The dining room, training room and the…" I was going to say bar but there was a note in bold saying that I shouldn't tell the Avengers, especially Tony, the location of the bar. "You know what never mind. The next two levels are just rooms and as you guys already know we are on -4." I glanced and my watch and almost did a double take. "You guys better hurry though, it's been nearly 45 minutes since we left the control room." Surprised that so much time had passed we all quickly dispersed into our rooms. The moment I entered my room I dropped my comm and the sheets Natasha had given me and fell directly into the bed. I considered taking a shower but quickly dismissed the idea. I was still drained from the hits I had taken two days ago and the bed was too comfortable. Unmoved from my position the bed I surveyed the room. It was quite similar to my old room back at the old SHEILD base with a small toilet, a single bed and a small wardrobe, probably stocked with the skintight suits that all agents had to wear. Another similarity I noted was that, here too, the walls were paper thin. From one side I could clearly hear Tony's machines working off his Iron man suit and from the other side I could hear Thor shuffling around his room. The moment I thought of Thor I remembered how I had acted when he had caught me. I had never acted that way around any guy before and I not used to it. I slowly felt my eyelids drooping. I tried to fight the sleep off but it was nearly impossible and in no time at all I was curled up, fast asleep and dead to the world.


	7. Chapter 7

Emilys P.o.V

I was rudely jarred awake by a loud ringing sound. I jumped out of bed and tried to find the source until I remembered that all the rooms had an alarm on the bedside tables which were set to ring, simultaneously, at 6:30 am. I quickly found the alarm and switched it off. That's when I noticed how stiff I was feeling. I looked down and groaned. I had fallen asleep in my suit and those things were not made for sleeping in. There was a crash and the sound of something, which I guessed was Tony's alarm, smash against the wall. I fell back into my bed deciding to steal a few more minutes of sleep. I had just closed my eyes when I heard Thor crashing around loudly in his room.

"Show yourself, you vile screaming monster." I heard him yell. Vile screaming..? I thought to myself. My eyes flew open. Thor was referring to his alarm clock, which I could still hear ringing. Not being from here Thor probably didn't know what an alarm clock was. I jumped out of bed and ran to Thors room and banged in his door. It took several minutes of banging until Thor finally opened his door.

"Emily, what are you doing here? You must leave. There is some dangerous creature in my room."

"It isn't any creature, Thor," I said. "It's just your alarm clock." Thor gave me a confused look so I pushed past him and stepped into his room. The entire place was a wreck. One of the side tables was smashed to pulp and the doors of the cupboard were ripped off their hinges. I carefully stepped over the debris scattered around the floor and located the alarm clock which was still ringing very loudly. Thor, who was standing behind me with his hammer raised, peeked over my shoulder to look at the device. I pushed the button on top of the clock and the ringing stopped. Thors expression changed from angry to confused and then to embarrassed. I could swear he was blushing. I glanced at the clock in my hands and was shocked to see that I had less than 20 minutes to get ready. I quickly told Thor that he should get ready and meet everyone in the dining area, shoved the alarm clock into his hands and hurried back to my room.

The moment I got into my room I peeled of my suit and jumped into the shower. I turned the shower up to its maximum heat and let the scalding liquid fall on my head and soothe my stiff muscles. I quickly soaped and shampooed. By the time I finished my shower the bathroom was filled with steam so I had to fumble around a bit before I found a towel and ended up stumbling out of the bathroom. I quickly pulled open the closet. As I had expected there was a neat row of suits hung up. But what I didn't expect to see was a black suitcase at the bottom of the cupboard. I immediately recognized it as the suitcase which I had quickly packed during the evacuation back at the main base though I had never expected to see it again. I quickly slipped into some clothes, pulled my hair into a simple bun and then grabbed the bag. The moment I got the bag open I threw everything out and pulled out the false base revealing my precious collection of knives. I quickly selected six knives, slipped four into my belt and hid the remaining two in my boots. Since I had lost my knives back in SHEILDs lab I had been filled with a sense of insecurity. I was feeling better now but my belt still felt abnormally light without a gun in the holster. I decided that I would find Natasha after breakfast and ask her for one. It turns out that I didn't have to though because no more than moments after I had slipped the knives into my belt I heard her banging on my door telling me to hurry up. I quickly shoved everything back into my suitcase and threw it back into my cupboard. I glanced into the mirror one last time to make sure I looked ok grabbed and was going to open the door when at the last moment I remembered my comm which I grabbed from the bedside table and jammed into my ear.

"You're going to be late." Was the first thing Natasha told me when I opened the door. She then grabbed my hand and literally dragged me to the elevator. While we were waiting I remembered that I had to ask her for a gun. When I did she paused and thought for a few seconds before talking into her comm and nodding a few times.

"We'll stop by the weapons storage on our way up." She told me just as an elevator dinged open.

Within a few seconds we were in the weapons storage and Natasha was already heading towards a wall that, judging from the number, probably held every single gun in the storage. She started pulling out gun after gun telling me about its trigger action, distance and other details which I was only half listening to. I let my eyes roam around the wall until my eyes fell on a Beretta 87. I knew that that was the perfect gun for me.

Thors P.o.V

I stood looking at what Emily called an 'alarm clock' for several moments after she left my room. I kept looking at it expecting it to start screaming again. When it didn't though I figured out that it must be dead. I looked around the room and surveyed the damage I did. I was extremely surprised as to how bad the mess was and I knew any attempts that I could make to clear up would be futile. I decided to consult the man named 'Fury' regarding it. Suddenly, for some reason I found myself thinking about Emily. About when I saved her from falling yesterday. Even in her weakened state yesterday, she was quite striking. There was something about her that stuck in my mind. She made me feel the same way I felt when I was around Jane but the feeling was more intense. When I noticed what I was thinking, I immediately stopped. Thinking these thoughts would make me unfaithful to Jane. That would be unforgivable. I sighed. I wasn't used to being in such situations. Giving up I threw that vile 'Alarm Clock' on the bed and decided to figure out what the humans called a 'Shower' was.

Emilys P.o.V 

By the time we reached the dining room everyone had already started eating. I tried to ignore Fury's glare, which was trained on us, as I grabbed a plate of eggs. I knew the reason Fury was glaring at us was because we were more than 20 minutes late. Our lateness was entirely my fault since had forced Natasha to let me stop by the shooting range so I could try out my new gun. I quickly took my plate and followed Natasha to the table where all the Avengers were seated.

"So what did we miss?" I asked before shoveling a forkful of eggs into my mouth.

"Nothing much." Tony told us. "Except the fit Fury threw when you guys didn't show up on time." He added with a chuckle. Slowly his chuckle grew into a loud laughter and it took a death glare from Fury to get him to shut up. After Tony settled down everyone quickly finished eating. Once everyone was done Fury stood up and started dishing out orders to all the other agents in the room. When all the other agents cleared out Fury turned to us.

"Alright everyone your orders are the same as yesterday. Capitan, Thor the both of you ore still on call but while waiting you can use the gym and training rooms." Everyone stood up when he finished. Not knowing what to do I stood up too but just as I did Fury said "Grace, Romanoff stay here."

When everyone except the three of us had vacated the room Fury turned to me and started talking again.

"Agent Grace, you have special orders so listen up. For the next few days your job is to watch over and guard our hostage, Loki. Romanoff will show you where he is being held." Fury words hit me hard and I was too shocked to register anything. Seeing my expression Fury asked "Is there a problem agent?" I wanted to say No I have absolutely no problem with being in the same room as the person who killed my mom and destroyed my life. Just don't blame me if you find him dead by morning. Instead I just choked out a "No." before Natasha dragged me away so that I didn't do anything stupid. Natasha dragged me till the elevators and once the doors opened she quickly pulled me in and shoved a card into a slot on the control panel. Once the doors slid shut she turned to me.

"You know why Fury gave you this job right?" she asked me.

"No, please enlighten me." I growled as a reply. I knew that I had no reason to be mad at Natasha but I couldn't seem to stop myself from sounding hostile. Natasha didn't seem fazed by my hostility though. She probably understood what I was feeling. I waited for her to say something but she just looked at me because she knew that I knew why Fury had set me up to this. I had an idea but I didn't want to put it into words. When I stayed silent for a few moments Natasha sighed.

"He knows that you hate Loki too much fall for any of his tricks." She said. "The rest of us can be easily manipulated by Loki into helping him. But with you it will be extremely difficult." That was the exactly what I was thinking but when it was in my mind it sounded ridiculous. The moment Natasha said it though I knew it was true. Fury was using my hate towards the god in his favor. I stood quietly until the elevators dinged open.

"The cage is down the passageway. There's only one door. You'll need to give your fingerprint scan to get in though." Natasha said pointing in the direction that I needed to go in. "You'll be alright, right?" she then asked.

"Yeah, don't worry." I replied and forced a smile before I walked out. As I followed the passageway I mentally began preparing myself to face the god. I tried to walk really slowly but I was at the door too quick. My thumb hovered over the scanner for a few moments before I forced it against the small screen. As the systems ran my print I thought of all the things that could go wrong the moment I stepped on the other side of the door in front of me. My mind wandered back to the plane and I remembered how Loki had tried to read my mind. So, just as the massive door slid open, I let my guard up and stepped inside.

The god was facing away from me but must have sensed my presence because I had hardly taken a few steps into the room when he spun around to face me.

"It's not easy to sneak up on me." he said as a cold smile formed on his face. For some reason his statement rubbed me the wrong way and I was preparing myself to throw every single insult in the English dictionary at the god when I realized that that was probably the god's intention. Get me pissed and throw me off guard. So instead of yelling I settled with giving him a withering glare and then marched up to a chair placed for me and proceeded to ignore him completely.

"Not in a talking mood the Miss Grace?" he said when I continued to ignore him. He was really starring to annoy me. But instead of lashing out at him like a mad woman I took a deep breath and looked at him with a calm expression.

"No, as in a matter of fact I am not in a mood for talking." I said and then pulled out a knife from my belt and studied the serrated edge and made it very clear with my body language that I intended to ignore the god.

Every day I followed a very similar routine. Wake up. Eat breakfast. Sit for endless hours guarding Loki while trying to prevent him from infiltrating my brain. Dinner and then bed. During her lunch break Natasha would come down with food for me and Loki and give me company. Loki, of course, didn't touch any food we offered him since he claimed that it was 'beneath his standards'. Fury tried to get me to Loki to eat but I didn't try too hard. Frankly I didn't care if the guy starved to death.

Five days after I started my job as Lokis guard I accidentally got caught up in my thoughts and let my mental guard down. Just before I realized my mistake a cold feeling started to spread through my body and I could almost feel Lokis eyes going through the contents of my mind. I tried to pull my guard up again but I knew that it was too late and there was no getting him out now. I considered calling for help or attacking the god myself but I realized that there was nothing I could do. Loki was practically in my mind. He could see anything that I planned to do before I could actually do it. So I did the only thing I could do- stand there while a god sifted through the contents if my mind.

"So tell me Agent Grace. Why do you hate much?" Loki said after a few moments of silence. I tried to control it but the memory popped up subconsciously and Loki smiled. "I remember her. Your mother? Well my apologies then. Her death was truly unnecessary but she courted death when she tried to battle the destroyer." We were both silent for a moment and then Loki added. "Would you like to see her last moments?" Before I could say anything I felt a memory force its way into my mind and implant itself there. Suddenly an image formed in my mind and I recognized it as Mexico during the attack of the Destroyer. I also realized that I was seeing this in the Destroyers point of view because suddenly the image was filled with flames and when they settled everything was charred. The image suddenly panned to the right and that's when i saw my mom helping evacuate citizens. She spun around, said something to the other agents and then pulled out her gun and fired three rounds. Then her face filled with horror as the image filled with fire again. After the image settled and the flames reduced what I saw made me feel sick and faint. My mother's form was lying on the ground. What was left of her body was too gruesome to describe and I started to feel bile building up at the back of my throat. Just when I thought I was going to lose my lunch the image thankfully resided. It stood up and leaned against the wall while trying to steady my breathing.

"Well that's interesting." Loki suddenly said with a chuckle. "My insolent brother has managed to find another woman who yearns for him." I stood there shocked, wondering how Loki managed to find out that I had feelings for Thor. Then I remembered that he was still in my mind. I considered saying something when Loki continued. "Well then Miss Grace it seems that I have done you a favor and removed your competition, Jane Foster."

"Jane Foster is in a safe house under SHIELDs protection." I said weakly trying not to believe what I thought Lokis statement meant.

"Do you think that your Midgardians guards are capable enough to stop me?" Loki asked and when I didn't reply Loki said "I didn't think so." and then spun around to face the CCTV camera. "Jane Foster is dead." I stood there frozen, slowly processing his words, not knowing what to say or do when Thors pained roar ripped through the five floors of the Helicarrier.


	8. Chapter 8

Emilys P.o.V

No one saw Thor for the rest of the day. After Loki mentally assaulted me and confessed to killing Jane, Fury immediately pulled me out of the cage room and tried contacting the safe house where Jane had been taken to. Not surprisingly they got no reply which just reinforced Lokis confession. Since I had no other work and everyone could tell that I was pretty shaken I only was given very simple orders which I was able to carry out, but only in a very mechanical fashion. Every time I tried to think too hard about something the image of my mother's charred body would flash in my mind and I had to stop whatever I was doing so I wouldn't break down. Even though I wanted to I refused to cry because I didn't want anyone to know that what Loki did to me affected me badly. I somehow managed to pull through the rest of the day. But at the end of the day when I got into my room I felt hot tears build up in my eyes. I angrily wiped them away before they could fall, ripped off my suit, pulled on a pair of shorts and a loose shirt and collapsed on my bed. I was so exhausted sleep came immediately but my mind was plagued with dreams of the scene Loki had shown me and no more than 30 minutes later I found myself jolted awake and clammy with sweat. This pattern repeated itself for about an hour or two. After trying and failing to fall asleep for the fifth time I finally gave up. My regular reaction to situations like this was drinking until I passed out but I hadn't yet smuggled a bottle of vodka from the bar so I decided to do the other thing that I would normally do at times like this - train.

I quickly untangled myself from my sheets and swapped my nightwear for a pair of track pants and a black shirt. I considered carrying the knives that were already in my belt but I decided against it because I couldn't afford to damage them. So instead on my way down I stopped at the armory and sifted through SHEILDs large collection of knives until I found 20 which I was satisfied with. I quickly shoved them into an empty briefcase and made my way up to the training level looking forward to a couple of hours of alone time. But just as I stepped out of the elevator and neared the training room I knew I wasn't going to get to enjoy solitude.

I heard him before I actually saw him but I knew, without doubt, from the grunts and the sound of a fist colliding with a punching bag that the person in the training room was Thor. I froze. I wasn't sure whether I really wanted to see Thor right now, especially after Loki let the cat out of the bag about my feelings for him. I considered going back to my room but quickly dismissed the idea because I knew that I would quickly become restless if I had to sit boxed up in my room all night. I also really wanted to catch up on my training I hadn't got any time in the past few days. I decided that the best thing to do is just act normal. I kept reciting that in my head as I walked into the gym. But the moment I saw Thor I completely forgot this mantra. Even in out of his armor and in a simple shirt and sweats he looked, well, godly. I suddenly noticed I was staring when I nearly dropped the suitcase in my hands and quickly shook myself out of my daze and just in time too because no more than five seconds later Thor, who must have sensed my presence, spun around. We just stared at each other for a few moments before I wordlessly greeted him with a nod and quickly scurried to the target range. I then pulled out a knife, experimentally flicked it once in the air and then threw it with such force that embedded itself deeply into the center of one of the targets. I still felt that Thors gaze was still on me but I chose to ignore it until the suitcase was almost empty and every single target had a blade sticking out of its bulls eye. That's when I dared a quick glance back. I saw Thors sky blue eyes fixed on me with a strange mix of pain and surprise and another emotion which I couldn't place. I quickly looked back at the targets and started to move towards them to retrieve all the knives.

"You are quite talented with knives." Thor suddenly said breaking the silence. I spun around on my heel to face him.

"Thanks." I managed to get out. "I see Steve has got you into boxing." I then added while gesturing towards the pile of broken punching bags. "But how come you are down here?" I asked and then mentally kicked myself because the answer to that question was the topic I was trying to avoid bringing up.

"I was, uh, trying to clear my head." Thor replied, clearly trying to avoid the topic of Jane as well. "But may I also ask what brings you here?"

"I couldn't sleep." I replied after a pause. "I was getting nightmares and all." I felt my voice thicken as I remembered the dreams I was having. Neither of us said anything, we just looked at each other and when the silence became too uncomfortable I quickly made an excuse of needing to return to my training and went back to pulling my knives out of the target boards.

Both of us stayed in the training room for hours. I dove into my training with a vengeance, trying to forget my nightmares and the things Loki had shown me. Thor too seemed to be trying to forget his problems because he went through almost five more punching bags. I only stopped training when I noticed that the horizon was tinged with light. Deciding to try and get a little sleep I quickly packed away the knives. I started walking out of the training room and I was going to say goodnight to Thor but instead without thinking I said "You know if you ever want to talk or can't sleep or anything… I hardly ever sleep so you can knock on the wall and I can come over…" Immediately after I realized what I said I wished I could take it back. I didn't know what reaction to expect from him but I definitely didn't expect him to agree with my idea. So needless to say when he smiled and nodded I was extremely surprised. Trying not to let my surprise show on my face I quickly nodded a goodbye and hurried towards the elevators. When I reached my room I crashed on my bed and even though I thought that I had too much on my mind to go to sleep, the minute my head hit the pillow I passed out.


	9. Chapter 9

My peaceful, dreamless sleep was too quickly shattered by the coordinated alarm clocks. Groggily, I peeled myself out of bed and went through all my morning motions as if I was on autopilot. I only really came to my senses when I looked into the mirror before leaving the room and noticed that my usually bright green eyes looked a much duller shade and my honey brown skin had darkened drastically beneath my eyes. Worried that the dark circles would only indicate that my encounter with Loki the previous day had seriously affected me, I quickly went back into the bathroom and rummaged through my toiletry kit until I found a pot of concealer. After dabbing some on my face until I was convinced that no one would suspect anything I glanced at the clock and groaned. I was going to be late again and even though I knew that Fury would cut me some slack I was quite sure that he was going to be pissed. I sprinted out of my room and only came to a halt when I was right outside the dining hall. I peeked in and as I had expected, it was empty save one person - Fury. And he didn't look happy. I was about to spew out some weak excuse when he held his hand up.

"Don't bother." he said and looked at me with an expression that I had never expected to see on Fury face - pity. I remembered seeing the same expression on people's faces when my mother died. It used to annoy me then and it really annoyed me now. But just as quickly as it had appeared the expression disappeared and Fury's face morphed into his signature 'I'm pissed off so don't piss me off more'.

"Follow me Agent." he then said although his voice sounded a tad kinder than usual. That worried me because I didn't want everyone to be walking on eggshells around me. There were only so many sympathetic looks which I could handle before my fuse blew. I was really praying that wouldn't happen. Most of the time SHEILD agents showed no emotion. As in a matter of fact most of the agents had been through worse tragedies than I had. I did acknowledge the fact that those agents hadn't had their minds picked at by an insane god and all the things they had been trying to forget had not been pulled out of little corners of their brain and replayed in their mind in a much more horrific and emotionally scarring manner. But I still hoped and expected them to treat me normally. But luck wasn't on my side because by the time we had reached our destination I had received so many 'Oh you poor thing' looks that I had clenched my palms into tight fists and dug my nails into my skin hard enough to draw blood to prevent myself from lashing out.

I had been so preoccupied with keeping myself under control that I didn't really bother to wonder where Fury was taking me. I only started to pay attention to my surroundings when we stopped and I was shocked to see that we were standing outside the doors leading to the lab. I was struck with a sense of déjà vu. I just hoped that this time a crazy god wouldn't appear and claim to want to take over the world. One of those was more than enough. As Fury punched in his code to enter the lab I glanced through the glass doors and saw Stark and Dr. Banner frantically working and I couldn't help but wonder what I was doing here. Initially when I had joined SHEILD I had wanted to get into research and development but halfway through my training, when we had to give a mandatory field exam my superiors and I realized that I was more cut out for field work and I started training to be a field agent instead. I still remembered how to use most of the equipment in the lab though and I realized that that was probably the reason Fury was putting me here along with the very likely fact the he didn't know what else to do with me. While waiting for his code to be verified Fury told me that he that I had to stay I the lab to keep an eye on what was going on and also help out in any way that I can. The hydraulic doors slid open with a silent hiss and I followed Fury in.

"Any progress on the Tesseracts location?" Fury asked. Dr. Banner shook his head dejectedly causing Fury to grunt. After a brief pause told them to get back to work and keep searching and then turned and gave me a sharp nod and then marched out.

It had been ages since I had last been in a lab but everything I had learned quickly came back to me. I tapped a screen and it glowed to life. I glanced over the data displayed on it and even though it was much more complex than what I was used to I was able to understand quite a bit. Just as I killed the screen I felt someone approach me. Looking back at the screen I saw a reflection of Tony standing behind me with an eyebrow raised.

"Why do you look so surprised?" I asked him.

"Well," he said "it's just that most SHEILD agents wouldn't understand half of what was written on that screen."

"Well I may be new but I'm not like most agents." I told him and then, without giving any further explanation I turned to Dr. Banner and told him about a few theories I had come up with as to why they couldn't find the Tesseract. While talking I glanced back at the screen and saw the reflection of Tony looking at me with quizzical eyes before shaking his head and returning to his work.

It turned out working in the lab was sort of fun. The only problem was dealing with Tony's constant attempts at annoying me. By the end of the day I was so frustrated and tired that when I reached my room I almost made the mistake of falling asleep. Thankfully just before I passed out I remembered all the nightmares that might haunt me and I quickly sat up, wide awake, with all thoughts of sleep forgotten. I rearranged the pillows in my bed so I could sit more comfortably and then started to wonder what I could do to keep myself awake. Training came immediately to my mind then I remembered the conversation I had with Thor yesterday. I started to wonder if he would actually take up my offer but I quickly dismissed the thought though because I figured that it was more likely that Thor would want to avoid my company than seek it out. Sighing I hopped out of bed and walked to my closet so I could change into my training clothes. Just as I reached for the handle though I heard a soft, almost inaudible knock on the wall. I froze and wondered if I had just imagined it. Then after a beat I heard two more slightly louder knocks. I felt my pulse quicken. My brain told me not to do this to myself as nothing would really come out of this and I would just end up hurting myself. My heart on the other hand was telling to stop standing there and get my ass into the next room as quickly as possible. Eventually my heart won out and before I knew it I was standing outside Thor's room timidly knocking on his door. I stood outside his door shuffling from foot to foot. After a few beats I started to wonder if I had imagined the knocks but just as I was about to walk back to my room the door cracked open and Thor's head peeked out.

"Hey," I said "I heard you knock on the wall so here I am."

"I was unable to sleep then I remembered your offer" he said almost nervously "I hope I didn't disturb you"

"No, no don't worry. I hardly get much sleep." I said with a slight smile. Then after an awkward pause I asked "Can I come in?"

"Oh, yes. My apologies." he said and opened the door wider while stepping aside. I nervously walked in and stood in the middle of the room not knowing what to do next.

"Please sit down." Thor said after shutting the door. I quickly glanced around the room and noticed a chair a small distance away from the bed. I had intended to walk confidently to the chair but ended up stumbling a few times on my way there. When I finally sat down wrung my hands while trying to collect my thought and calm myself.

"So what's up?" I asked him in a slightly choked voice after I managed to at least partly compose myself.

"It's just that ever since what happened yesterday I feel a very strong urge to speak to someone and let everything that is on my mind out. It's just that I can't stop thinking about…" he mumbled and then paused and closed his eyes. I felt my breath catch as I realized what was coming next. He was going to talk about Jane. I couldn't believe that I hadn't prepared myself for this because I should have expected it. Thor opened his eyes and started again.

"It's just that I can't stop thinking of how my brother could do something like this." He said in a sad, hurt voice. I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding and felt relieved. But only slightly. At least we aren't going to talk about Jane I thought to myself then immediately felt guilt course through my body because I had technically brought this on myself and Thor had the right to talk to me about anything he wished to.

Thankfully though the rest of our conversation that night was focused entirely on Loki. But for the whole duration of the time I spent conversing with Thor the feeling of guilt stayed with me but not only because I continued to feel relieved that our conversation never strayed onto the topic of Jane but also because of the thoughts my mind kept conjuring up about what could have come out of the=is situation under very different circumstances. By the time we called it a night I felt so ridden with guilt that I told myself that I wouldn't go back again but I wasn't able to stop myself from going to his room when he knocked on the wall the next night and I wasn't able to stop myself the night after that or on the next two nights either. Even though each of those nights left me feeling guilty I had to admit that those four nights were few of the best nights of my life. Even though I knew I shouldn't I thoroughly enjoyed those nights because every night when I went over to his room we would just talk in such a normal manner that I was able to forget for a brief period of time all the things Loki had showed me. I also suspected that Thor too was able to forget his troubled because while we were talking he seemed more at ease and more relaxed. I also enjoyed our evenings together because I got to know Thor much better.

Out of the two of us Thor did most of the talking as he told me about Asgard, his misadventures and about Loki. Loki was always a part of our conversation because as much as Thor was accustomed to the fact that Loki was one for mischief he still couldn't comprehend that his brother could do such a terrible thing. As difficult as I found it I never spoke against Loki when Thor set off on his rants because as much as it worried me that Thor was still so loyal to that creep I didn't want to pop his little bubble and hurt him anymore. In fact I hardly talked at all because I much preferred to here Thor's stories but when he absolutely insisted that I speak I would tell him of the few adventures I had during my training and my limited time as an agent. We managed quite successfully to maneuver around the topic of Jane ad the topic of my mother and for the first time in months I actually felt happy.

There was a downside though to my nightly visits because when I was sitting in the lab after the fourth night I had spent with Thor I realized that my feelings which were once only a schoolgirls crush had started to grown into something dangerously close to love. I also realized that this didn't mean as much to Thor as it meant to me and the happiness I had felt was an illusion which my mind had created and once Thor left like all illusions my happiness would just disappear. Feeling disheartened and slightly hurt by that thought I couldn't concentrate for the rest of the day and in the evening when I reached my room I made the mistake of letting my exhaustion get the better of me and before I knew it my eyelids drooped and I fell asleep.

Thor's P.O.V

I had been interacting with Emily for four nights now and I still couldn't understand why I had knocked on the wall four days ago. Judging by her surprised expression that day thought I was quite sure that she had anticipated that I wouldn't take up her offer. Truthfully I had initially considered to do just that because I felt that considering what Loki had said with regard to her feelings towards me and the situation I was in it was the most appropriate thing to do. I had actually spent quite a while thinking about the offer Emily had made but every time I had considered to accepting it I felt ever so guilty and disloyal towards Jane. But for some strange reason which I couldn't comprehend I didn't follow my first instinct and decided instead to seek Emily's company. I realized though, from the first night itself that I had made a mistake by accepting Emily's offer after I noticed that the way I felt around Emily mirrored if not exceeded the way I used felt around Jane. I had thought that I would be able to keep my emotions in check but after talking for only one night I realized that my feelings towards Emily had strengthened. Even though I knew that Jane would have wanted this as she would have said that I should 'move on' I couldn't help but feel terrible. But it was also the thought that Jane would have found this acceptable that made me continue to seek out Emily's company.

With that thought in mind I stood up and tapped on the wall twice in quick succession. After waiting for five whole minutes I started to worry why Emily hadn't responded. Then it struck me that she might be asleep. The thought of that made me quite happy because I had started to worry about Emily's health when she told me that she hardly sleeps. I walked back to my bed deciding that I too should attempt to sleep. But almost immediately after I lay down I realized that I would never get any sleep as there was far too much on my mind. With a resigned sigh I pushed myself back up and prepared myself for a lonely night ahead.

It was a couple of hours later when I heard a loud thump come from Emily's room followed by a clutter. At first I thought that she had woken but then the noise died down and I passed it of as nothing. But a few minutes later I heard a muffled scream and before I knew it I was on my feet and running towards Emily's room. I paused outside her door but when I heard a soft whimper I threw the door open without hesitation. In my head I had pictured several of the horrible things I might see once I opened the door but I definitely didn't expect to see Emily curled up on the floor, shivering with her head buried deep into her pillow. worried that something was wrong with her I rushed towards her trembling form and shook her shoulder in an attempt to wake her. I realized my mistake a little too late when I felt her body stiffen and saw a small fist fly towards my face. Thankfully I was able to move away before the fist connected with my face and by the time I managed to steady myself again Emily was already on her feet with her fists raised and her body in a fighting stance, looking ready to pounce. When she realized that it was me though she dropped her hands and collapsed on her bed.

"Don't ever do that again!" she squeaked out in a choked voice.

"I truly am sorry for barging in in such a manner but from what I could hear you sounded very distressed." I said and then noticed a slight wetness on Emily's cheek.

"Is everything alright?" I asked her. Emily didn't say anything for a few moments and then she shook her head and choked out a 'No'. Starting to worry about what might be bothering Emily I briskly walked towards Emily and took a seat next to her.

"What's wrong?" I asked while allowing my concern to show in my voice. Emily took a deep breath and then bent down and pulled out a strange bottle of clear liquid and a glass from under her bed. Emily then screwed off the top of the bottle and picked up the glass. She was about to tilt some of the contents of the bottle into the glass when she changed her mind and instead took a huge sip from the bottle. She swallowed the sip with a slight grimace and then looked back at me.

"Vodka." she said in a slightly heavy voice. "I used to drink it all the time after my mom died to knock me out when I couldn't sleep. Now it only acts as a balm to suppress my pain or feelings." she then added and then poured some out in a glass which she offered to me. "Try it, it's good." Emily prompted when I hesitated.

"Alright." I said and then took the glass from her hands and downed the liquid. It was fairly tasteless but burned as it went down. I could tell that it was quite strong. Not as strong as a good Asgardian ale but for Midgard it was quite strong and that's how I knew that something was really bothering Emily. I didn't want to press her for details so instead I didn't say anything. The silence lasted for a few moments then I heard Emily take a deep breath as if she were about to start talking.

"I had this dream." Emily said in a slightly stronger voice. "It was of what Loki had shown me the other day, about my mother." She then added in almost a whisper. Emily then paused to take another gulp from the bottle and then started telling me about her mother and what she saw in her dream. I knew her mother was a difficult topic for Emily to talk about so I silently listened just as she had done on several occasions in the past few nights. I did cringe slightly though when she told me about what Loki had showed her but I managed to hold my composure. By the time she finished telling me everything though Emily was quite intoxicated. Between the two of us the bottle of 'Vodka' was almost empty and Emily's voice was slightly slurred. I too was feeling the slight effects of the alcohol but I knew I wasn't too badly drunk. Not really knowing how to respond to what Emily had just told me I just sat there in silence thinking about what I had just heard when I felt a hand on my arm. I turned and suddenly Emily's face was right in front of mine, our lips almost touching. I froze and felt panic build. This was one of the things I was worried about and even though I knew it was what I wanted I wasn't too sure that it was the right thing to do.

"Emily, you are quite intoxicated. You should sleep." I said as a weak excuse while I tried to push Emily away as gently as possible.

"Please," Emily snorted "I'm just a little tipsy. I've gone for field exams more drunk than this."

"You don't want to do anything you might regret..." I tried again but this time Emily stopped me by putting a finger against my lips.

"I want this." She whispered and for the first time I could see her feeling burn in her eyes. "I want this more than anything. And I can tell by your eyes and the look on your face that you want this too." The problem was that she was right. I did want this and now that I had come to terms with the fact that Jane would have wanted m this for me and would be alright with this I realized how much I wanted this so before I could lose my nerve I closed the distance between and placed a soft kiss on Emily's lips. Before I knew it though the soft, innocent kiss turned into a fiery and passionate one. I still had a few lingering doubts about whether this was the right thing to do but the alcohol had started to enter my system and cloud my judgment so I decided, as we fell back on the bed, that I should not think too hard about this and just let the course of events occur as it was meant to, undisturbed by my judgment.


	10. Chapter 10

Emily's POV

The moment I opened my eyes and felt my head throbbing I knew I had a nasty hangover. I also realized I had woken up far too early because from my small window I could only just see a few streaks of light at the horizon adding a slight tinge of orange to the otherwise dark sky. Sighing I yawned and snuggled back into my pillow. My bed felt far warmer than usual and it was lulling me back to sleep. That's when I realized my lack of clothing. Shocked I was about to turn around when my hand encountered another body on my bed. Suddenly the events of the previous night came rushing back to me with such intensity that I tumbled out of the bed. I landed on the floor with a crash and a painful grunt causing Thor to stir and wake. My first instinct was to grab a blanket to cover myself but i realized that there was only one on the bed so i instead lunged for Thor's oversized shirt which lay abandoned on the floor and quickly pulled it over my head. Not more than a second after I had covered myself up Thor sat up with a loud yawn followed by a groan. In the morning sun Thor's golden hair shone brighter than usual making him look so beautiful that my brain struggled to formulate an intelligent thought. Of course when my brain did start to function again the only thing that flooded my mind was guilt. Before I knew what I was doing an apology started to tumble out of my mouth. My ramble was suddenly cut short though by a warm pair of lips pressed against mine.

"There is no need to apologise, Emily." Thor said in his deep voice. "I meant what I said last night, I have no regrets." His words made a rebellious tear, which I had been trying to hold in, tumble out of my eye. Thor's eyes widened at that and his calloused hand quickly came to my cheek and brushed the tear away.

"Emily, you're crying. Are you upset?" Thor asked sounding adorably concerned.

"Oh Thor don't worry. I'm not upset." I promised in a slightly shaky voice. "I was just really worried that you might have been repulsed by how I had acted last night. These are tears of relief."

We stayed in each other's arms for a few moments then I suddenly realized that if anyone found out about what had happened the previous night there would be serious repercussions.

"I think it would be best that you head back to your room." I told Thor when I glanced at my clock and noticed that there was less than an hour before everyone started to wake up. A look of confusion flashed on Thor's face.

"I apologise if I did anything to offend you…" Thor started to say but I quickly cut him off.

"Don't worry Thor, you didn't do anything." I said reassuringly. "I just think that I would be best that no one found out about this, until the war is over at least. Just to be on the safe side." Thor nodded understandingly and gave me a light kiss on the forehead before heading for the door. Before exiting my room though Thor flashed me one of his heart-melting smiles that left me in a strange trance that I only managed to break out of when the door gently clicked shut signalling Thor's exit. I was shocked by how I had reacted to something as simple as a smile and I quickly reprimanded myself. I was an agent and I was supposed to be immune to this, or so my training assured. But then again I also relished the feelings which I felt when Thor smiled at me or pulled me into a hug or kissed me because those were the feeling which I had locked away after my mother died and swore never to let them out again because I believed that they would be nothing more than a weakness. But now that I had let them out again it felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and my chest felt lighter than it had in years.

Feeling invigorated by the things which had transpired earlier I quickly got ready for the day ahead. I had finished showering and dressing and had started stashing all my weapons in their appropriate places just as the air was filled with the blaring sound of the alarm clocks. I ignored my clock and let it continue to ring until it automatically switched off. I stuffed two knives in each of my boots, attached eight knives onto my belt and slipped my gun into its holster. Stretching my back I walked out of my room expecting the halls to be empty. Instead I was greeted by Tony who was standing outside his room, leaning against the wall, with a smug smile plastered on his face.

"What do you want Stark?" I asked him in a flat tone while praying that his reason for confronting me was not related to what had happened the previous night. Unfortunately when his eyes filled with an evil glint I knew that it was.

"I trust you slept well." Tony said almost cracking up. I tried to go with a blank, stoic expression but Tony shook his head.

"The walls are thin, Emily, and let me just say that you were not very quiet. I mean you managed to wake me up." Tony said, trying to go for a serious tone, but failing miserably.

"Again what do you want Stark?" I sighed exasperated by his antics. Tony smiled like a teenage girl making me roll my eyes.

"Oh nothing… Just… you and Point Break huh?" he asked, keeping up the teenage girl façade. I felt my face twist into what must have been a deer in headlights expression because Tony started to crack up. I quickly gathered my wits and even though I was pretty sure that Tony wouldn't say anything he could be, well, unpredictable so I opened my mouth to deliver a threat but Tony just shook his head and made a zipping motion across his lips indicating that he would keep his mouth shut. Then with a jaunty wink he sauntered back into his room. I shook my head at how immature Stark could be and with a glance down the hallway I headed towards the dining hall.

As I had expected I was the first one there and I sat there alone nibbling on a piece of toast until the rest of the team filed in. I could tell that every one, except for Tony, was surprised to see me there because I had ended up late almost every day due to the lack of sleep I was receiving. But when Thor came in and out eyes met I couldn't help but let an almost unperceivable smile play on my lips. But to my credit and Thor's as well we managed to hide the shift in our relationship by keeping up the air of indifference we usually displayed to each other.

After the quick meal all of us dispersed to do our allotted jobs. While I followed Bruce and Tony to the lab Natasha headed down to the 'Cage' to try to get Loki to start talking and the Capitan and Thor headed to the gym. When Thor was just about to leave though he gave me a quick, small smile which made me want to sit there and smile like an idiot. Thankfully I kept myself from letting that happen and I was able to stabilize my composure before anyone noticed, except of course Tony who started to snicker softly until I shot him a hard glare.

I don't know how but for the rest of the morning and a large part of the afternoon Tony managed to stay annoyingly immature and kept on snickering and winking at me while JARVIS, for the hundredth time was trying to break down SHEILDs firewalls without being spotted and being booted out. Tony had started trying to hack into SHEILDs mainframe ever since he had come on board but somehow he hadn't managed to break in yet. I had caught on his plan the day I started to work in the lab but I didn't stop him, even though I knew I should, because my curiosity to know the secrets of the organization I was working for was much stronger. It was also largely because Tony was looking for SHEILDs files on the Tesseract project because he found it suspicious and considering that my mother was a part of that project and kept on raving about how much good it could do for the world, if SHEILD was misusing the Tesseract I wanted to know about it.

When Tony broke into another giggle fit Bruce shot us a funny look but thankfully didn't say anything, probably because he was used to Tony's antics. I was more surprised when Tony suddenly stopped giggling.

"Finally." He muttered and then turned to us. "I'm in!" He exclaimed and started to load a page on one of the screens. He pulled out a phone and dialled a number. "Hey Cap any luck?" he said after a brief pause. I don't know why but I found the exchange a little funny, partly because it was quite surprising seeing Tony and Steve working together less than a week after they were more than ready to tear at each other's throats. But more so because it reminded me of Steve's earlier attempts at using a phone. Shaking off my giggles I began to head in his direction when my comm link flared to life.

"Loki is trying to unleash the hulk. Keep banner in the lab. Send Thor as well." Natasha's voice said hurriedly. My eyes widened and i spun in Banner's direction.

"You feeling fine right Bruce?" I asked him while trying to stay calm. Bruce frowned at the question and shrugged.

"I am feeling fine." Brice said hesitantly. "Why do you ask?" He then asked, with a quizzical look on his face. But before I could answer Natasha, Fury and Thor burst into the lab.

"Ah Director! Perfect timing." Tony said with a smirk. "Now I have to ask. What is Phase 2?" The director made the most convincing blank face while frowning and shaking his head as if he didn't understand what was going on. It would have been much more convincing if Steve hadn't walked in at that exact moment and dropped a very dangerous looking weapon on the workbench.

"Phase 2 is SHEILD using the Tesseract to make weapons." He said in a very controlled but cold voice.

"We collected everything related to the Tesseract, including Hydra weapons. That doesn't mean..." Director Fury started to say in attempt to turn the situation around but was interrupted by Tony.

"I'm sorry, you were lying." Tony said, smirking, while turning a screen displaying a complex looking design which had a very close resemblance to a rocket. There was a tense moment of silence as everyone unaware of Phase 2 absorbed the information while the others tried not to make the situation any worse. Unfortunately it was Bruce who cracked first.

"What... What is this." he said in a trembling voice. His battle to control his inner beast was more than evident on his face "Why is SHEILD using the Tesseract to create weapons of mass destruction." he questioned. Fury paused and then sighed.

"Because of him." Fury pointed at Thor.

"Me?" Thor scoffed. "Asgard has no quarrel with Earth."

"Yeah, but you're not the only ones out there." Fury retorted and with that the room exploded in argument. I carefully slunk back trying to act invisible and not interfere with the powers and egos verbally attacking each other in the room.

I successfully managed to stay clear of progressively intensifying argument until I noticed Bruce, who was visibly only inches away from losing control, grasp Loki's spear, which was lying behind him. On seeing this I gasped and spun around to alert someone. But my reaction mustn't have gone unnoticed because before I could say anything Steve jumped in.

"Doctor Banner, put down the sceptre please." He said in a calm but clearly terrified voice. Bruce froze and then his scrunched his eyebrows. He looked down and seemed to look confused at the presence of the sceptre in his hands. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a loud beep. Every single head in the room spun towards the computer which running the trace on the Tesseract and flashing a 'Trace Complete' on the screen. Bruce, who was taking slow, calming breaths and clenching his fists, walked to the computer. He straightened his glasses and hit a few buttons on the keyboard. Then he suddenly froze and his eyes widened. He looked up and started to say something when a powerful explosion rocked the Helicarrier, filling the room with dust and throwing everyone to the floor.

As the dust settled I the room was missing two of its occupants. Fury was barking orders into his comm while Steve and Tony had hurried out of the room to get suited up.

"Grace, with me to the bridge." Fury ordered as I pushed myself up and dusted a few shards of glass off my suit. As I jogged after Fury I listened to all the exchanges flying around on the comm link and none of it sounded good. We were one engine away from crashing to the ground, under attack by a hostile force and Natasha was stuck with a possibly hulked out Bruce. So I guess in the end Loki did get what he had wanted. Chaos.

When we reach the bridge and all we see are agents rushing everywhere trying to contain the situation. Fury immediately marched towards the main control panel and pulled up a schematic of the Helicarrier to assess the damage.

"Hill, I need you to get down there and clear out all the lower hangar bays. Grace, you stay with me." Fury ordered. Maria nodded and pointed to two agents to follow her. They started towards the door when a round object rolled into the room.

"Grenade!" Hill yelled and threw herself to the floor. I instinctively covered my face as the object exploded, sending shrapnel flying around the room. Fury immediately reacted and pressed himself against the wall near the door as black clad men entered the room. In a few well executed moved, Fury quickly took out the men but then suddenly froze. A shudder passed through his body and when he turned back towards me his eyes had a slightly glazed over look.

"On a second thought, Grace I want you to go down to the cage and check on our hostage." He said to me.

"Sir, you want me to check on Loki?" I asked, shocked and mildly horrified by the order. For a millisecond a look of confusion flashed on his face but then his expression returned to his standard stoic one.

"Yes, wasn't I clear?" he asked in an irritated voice and then added "That is an order agent." Still shocked I meekly nodded and then rushed out of the room and headed towards the elevator which would take me down to the cage.

When the elevator slid open to the cage level and I noticed that the door wasn't locked I knew that I was in trouble. As silently as I could I inched towards the entrance and peeked in. My eyes widened and I just barely muffled my sharp intake of breath when I saw Thor inside the cage instead of Loki, who on the other hand was standing outside. Coulson was in the room as well and was holding a shockingly large weapon. I relaxed slightly at the sight of the older agent but just then another Loki appeared behind Coulson and stabbed him through the chest with his sceptre. A sharp cry escaped my lips, but was masked by Thor's loud shout as Phil fell to the floor and scarlet stains began to spread on his shirt. I forced myself to stay in control as Loki, who still had a manic smile plastered on his face, walked back to the control panel and his hand inched towards the eject button. That's when something snapped in my mind and before I could think I was already standing and taking aim with one of my knives. The blade left my fingers and would have impaled Loki's hand if he hadn't flinched away at the last second. Loki froze as the blade implanted itself into the wall next to him.

"Ah, Miss Grace, I was expecting you." He said and then turned towards me with a chilling smile on his face. Wait he was expecting me. A look of confusion flashed on my face for an instant before I could school my expression but Loki must have noticed because he chuckled.

"Do you really think your Director is stupid enough to send you down here alone?" he asked rhetorically.

"That was you?" I asked in a trembling voice.

"Mortal minds are so easy to twist." he said while walking towards me making me step back as well. "I admit it took an effort. But every mind has a point where it will simply give in." by the time he had finished speaking I was backed up against a wall, Loki standing just a few inches in front of me.

"Why?" I whispered. "What do you want from me?" Loki's lips twisted into a terrifying smile. He turned himself so that he was looking at me and Thor at the same time.

"I am just fulfilling a promise." He whispered and Thor stiffened and his eyes widened in understanding. I on the other hand felt more confused than ever but couldn't find my voice to say anything but again Loki seemed to know what I was thinking.

"You see, Miss Grace, I had made a promise to my brother that I would 'pay a visit' to his woman when I came to Midgard. Now that he has gone and found himself another one, it is only fair that I keep that promise again, is it not?" he told me and I had noticed that Thor had flinched at the way Loki had spat out the word 'brother'. It took me a few moments to understand what Loki was telling me. But when I did a cold feeling spread throughout my body.

"So you are going to kill me then?" I asked in a steady but hollow voice.

"Oh, no. unfortunately for you I had the time and opportunity to be a little creative." I felt my breath catch in my throat and when I glanced at Thor he was standing frozen in place, his face pale and covered in fear. My eyes quickly shot around the room, trying to find an exit. But I quickly reached the conclusion that Loki had me cornered and there was no way out. I then realized that Loki had started talking again.

"I had started planning this since I had realized you had an emotional attachment to my… Thor when I saw how you had reacted towards him when you had first captured me. The price I had to pay was biding three weeks of time in this blasted cell and wasting my energies preventing any progress in your efforts to locate the Tesseract and finding out the secrets of your organization but now I feel that the fruits of my efforts are very much worth all the troubles." At the end of his monologue Loki's face had filled with so much glee that something inside me cracked.

"You're a heartless bastard." I whispered to him and then plucked another knife out of my belt and lunged towards the trickster god. Unfortunately my attack was intercepted by a now angry Loki who caught my hand and twisted it until the knife fell to the ground.

"You need to learn discipline, little girl." He growled to me and before I realized what was going on Loki's sceptre came in contact with my chest.

What happened to me in the next few moments was possibly the most agonizing thing I had experienced in my entire life. At first, as a cold feeling began to blossom out from my chest and spread thought my body, similar to when Loki had decided to pay an uninvited visit into my mind. But then I started to feel myself losing control of my limbs and then eventually my thoughts. Vaguely, I heard Thor shouting in the background but I hardly registered it as I was too busy trying to fight the effects of Loki's magic. But eventually the magic won out and I felt my own consciousness being pushed to a corner and the rest of my mind being occupied by a presence which had the sole purpose of serving Loki. I felt my body straighten and stand in attention. When I looked at Loki he was chuckling and muttering something. I only caught three words- 'humans', 'pathetic' and 'easy'- but those were enough to send anger coursing through my body. I tried to take out my gun and shoot the god but my hand wouldn't respond. I tried again and after my third attempt to get my body to respond I gave up. I stood there, helpless, and prayed that Loki wouldn't do anything severe to me. But somehow I knew I wouldn't be that lucky. Sensing my internal conflict and fear Loki smirked.

"Shall we?" He said and then began walking back to the control panel. Against my wishes my legs followed him. When I reached there and noticed Loki's fingers hovering over the eject button, I wanted to be sick. I felt a momentary wave of relief though when Loki pulled his hand away but then he turned to me.

"Would you, my dear." He said and the sick feeling came rushing back to me as I felt my hand rise up and near the big red button. Thankfully, seconds before I could press the button Director Fury and a couple of agents barged into the room. They froze when they saw me by Loki's side and saw Coulson lying on the floor, dead. Loki reacted quickly and with a mock salute he grabbed my waist. I wanted to protest, to bat his hand away, to punch him in the face but instead I just stood there and suddenly I felt a tugging sensation in my gut and then suddenly everything went black.


	11. Chapter 11

Thor's P.O.V

"No!" I cried out and slammed my fist against the glass barrier in front of me as I watched Loki disappear with Emily. Suddenly a cold, numbing feeling spread through my body and Mjolnr slip from my grasp. A lump began to form in my throat but I pushed it down. I refused to cry, to be weakened by my brother's schemes as I knew that that was his intent. I only barely registered the cage door opening as my gaze settled on the son of Coul who had fallen in attempt to attack my brother. Rage suddenly replaced my hurt as I watched Coulson breathe his last and heard Fury relay the information to the rest of the team and then turn to face me.

"I want you to tell me exactly what happened here and tell me why in hell was Emily down here." He told me in a tight but cold voice.

"Emily was down here on your orders." I snapped back in low, a barely controlled voice. "As for the fate of the son of Coul. He came in the way so Loki killed him." I said in the most frank tone I could manage.

"Wait. She came here on my orders?" Fury said, sounding confused.

"Rather, the orders you gave her while your mind was under Loki's control" I corrected myself, paying only little attention to the man next to me. The rest of my concentration was solely focused on trying to work out where Loki could have taken Emily.

"So you are telling me that Loki could pull off a mind control trick on me through the cage and metal and at least 20 feet of space? Does that mean he is getting stronger?"

"Loki was not here. He never really was." I informed Fury in a sullen voice. "We only caught his double, a doppelgänger, nothing else. It was just another part of Loki's scheme." I paused. I knew, or rather realized, that this was entirely my fault. Loki's need to subjugate Earth, the death of Jane and now Emily being captured was all caused because I wasn't a better brother and had not been there for Loki when he had needed me. And now Emily was going to suffer because of my own wrongdoings.

I suddenly realized that Fury was speaking to me and I snapped out of my musings.

"Okay we need to rally up the remaining team, work out a plan and find Loki." He said to me and then started walking out of the room while speaking into his comm, telling Stark and the Capitan to go up to the main control room. I hesitated for only a moment and then, after throwing one last glance at the slightly greenish haze that hovered around the area where Emily and Loki had been standing, followed Fury out of the room and into the transportation device that was to take us up to the control room.

"Where is Dr Banner?" I asked as I suddenly realized his absence when we walked into the room occupied by Tony Stark and Capitan Rogers.

"Dr Banner is unfortunately indisposed at the moment. I believe he jumped out of a window on one of the R and D levels." Fury replied. At first I assumed his response was a jest, but when I noticed his sullen expression I realized that he was serious, which further confused me. I was about to question him further when I was interrupted.

"Okay, I have questions." Tony said and then turned to me. "First, how the hell was there more than one Loki? I mean I have seen the security tapes and there were at least four 'Loki's running around the place. Which brings us to my next question, what do you think is Loki's play?" Tony asked in rapid succession and then added "But before that, are we going to share with the class about why brother dear kidnapped your girlfriend?" Tony asked and then gave an angelic smile in response to the glare I shot at him. It was at that moment that I noticed to shocked looks plastered on the faces of everyone else in the room. Realizing that informing the rest of the team about the change in the relationship between Emily and me would do less harm than good, I gave a resigned sigh and gave everyone in the room a truncated version of the events that had transpired between Emily and me in the last few days as well as informed them about the vendetta that Loki had towards me and his promise to destroy everything I cared about. Then, in attempt to distract myself from the pain that had suddenly flared up in my chest, I turned to Tony.

"In response to your first two questions, the versions of my brother that you had seen on your recordings were doppelgängers. As for his current plan, I do not know." I said and then paused while trying to think of any useful. "This entire invasion stemmed from Loki being an outcast on Asgard." I said, thinking out loud. "So he would probably choose a public place to attempt to subjugate humanity. A well-known place and preferably a place where he could power the Tesseract…" I trailed off when I noticed Tony's face pale and then turn a deep shade of red.

"Stark Tower." Tony said, almost under his breath and then growled. "That bastard is going to use my building, MY BUILDING, to start an invasion." Tony yelled, his voice becoming louder with each word. I thought about it for a moment and then realized that it did make sense and was slightly poetic in nature, the invasion occurring from the home of one of the most famous heroes of earth. It seemed like something Loki would do.

"We should go there right away." I said and stood to pick up Mjolnr. Then, with a nod to the three people seated around the table, I walked out of the room. As I approached the door which would take me out of the confines of the ship and into open air I heard Capitan Rogers tell Stark 'Suit up and fly to the tower. I'll get myself a ride' followed by shuffling and scraping chairs. Tuning those sounds out I stepped towards the door, which opened as I approached it, and out into the open air. Taking a deep breath, I began to swing Mjolnr and just before I lifted off I sent out a silently prayed to Odin that Emily would be alive and well and I wasn't too late.


	12. Chapter 12

Emily's P.O.V

When Loki did his weird teleportation thing I felt a sharp, wrenching feeling in my gut and then I suddenly found myself in the last place I expected to be, a SHEILD quinjet.

"Sit." I heard a smooth voice say and when I turned to find that the owner of the voice was Loki, I immediately stiffened. Or at least mentally stiffened while my body followed the order I was given. It was extremely unhinging to have my body move without my consent and the small part of me that I still had control of became overcome with a strong wave of nausea. Suddenly I realized Loki was talking again and against my will, my face turned to look at him.

"Now that we have a moment, Miss Grace, you are going to tell me all that you know." Loki said with a cat like smile plastered on his face. I wanted to tell him to shut up. I wanted to tell him that I wasn't going to tell him squat about anything. But what came out was something else entirely.

"What would you like to know sir?" I asked him and immediately felt like slapping myself the moment the words left my lips.

"Why don't you tell me a little about dear Thor?" Loki said, still smiling. The moment Loki said Thor's name though I felt unimaginable rage spread through the small parts of my still conscious mind and suddenly I could almost hear a small crack form in the blue haze of the spell binding my mind. I felt joy flood my system but quickly ebb away as my mouth opened and began to pour out all the secrets Thor had told me in confidence. I suddenly felt as though I had been injected with a cocktail of emotions- rage, guilt, and frustration- but when I noticed small cracks started to spread from the central fracture of the haze I, instead of pushing my emotions aside, focused harder on them in hope that I could somehow overcome the spell.

As time passed I continued to supply Loki with any and all the information that I was capable of telling him while internally I was vehemently trying to chip away at the cracks in the spell work. But every time I managed to widen the tears by even a minute fraction the spell work knit itself back together. By the time the jet began to descend, though, I realized that I had managed to widen the fissure a tiny bit and I allowed myself the privilege of enjoying my small, but significant success.

Suddenly I felt a cold hand on my shoulder and a tugging sensation in my gut as my surroundings changed from that of the quinjet to what I quickly recognized as the interior of Stark Tower.

"Every king needs a castle." I heard Loki's smooth voice speak from behind me. "And I think building would be the most appropriate space for mine."

"It is a fine building.' I heard myself reply and noticed a small smile grace Loki's face at my approval.

"I'm glad you think so." He replied. "But I do feel that my first order of business should be to rip those annoying letters off the side of this building." He continued while gesturing in the general direction of the large letters that spelled out 'Stark'.

"A fine decision, Sir." I said to him but quickly decided to ignore what the possessed 'me' was doing and lifted my emotional ice pick and returned to my mission to free myself from Loki's magical bonds.

I was so engrossed in trying to break Loki's spell that I only realized there was a cool hand on my fore head and the crevice that I had worked so hard to create began to narrow and knit itself back into a solid mass.

"I can feel you scratching away at my spell work." Loki's voice came from co close to my ear that even my possessed self flinched. "You are stronger than I had expected but I might as well tell you now that your puny, pathetic mortal mind is any match for my magic. You might as well give up your little futile exercise." Loki spat the words out with such force that I felt a bubble of fear form in my chest and I felt my resolve crumble into little bits. Loki must have notice the hope leaving my body because a satisfied look came over his face.

"Now," Loki suddenly said after a brief spell of silence "I have a war to start. But before that there is something you should know"

"What is that, Sir?" I asked and felt my heart rate escalate when a mischievous glint entered Loki's eyes.

"The reason why you are here, would you like to know it?" Loki asked in an amused tone to which I responded with a little too eager nod. I realized that apparently my possessed self was just as curious to know why Loki bothered to drag me along with him.

"As I am sure you recall, when we were on your flying ship I had mentioned that I was going to be creative this time. You see. Initially I had thought that killing Thor's woman would suffice. But I very quickly learned that Midgardian women are easier than Asgardian whores, especially after I observed the speed at which you fell into Thor's bed." Loki spat out the last words with an abundance of venom and then took a breath. "So I came to a conclusion that killing you would be futile. So instead I came up with a rather brilliant alternative." Suddenly Loki was standing right in front of me with his hand on my forehead. A warm feeling spread through my head and the blue haze disappeared and I felt myself gain control of my body again. I was so shocked that I stood, frozen and unable to react until a wave of nausea rolled through my body.

"What have you done to me?" I asked in a strained voice.

"It's a spell I made especially for you." Loki said almost gleefully. "It is unfortunately slow acting and you will be rendered unconcious in a few moments. But when you wake up every single memory, emotion, anything even slightly related to Thor will be wiped out of your mind. Permanently." My eyes widened with shock and I turned to Loki, prepared to attack. But before I could do anything I doubled over and collapsed to the ground and the last thing I remembered was Loki's laughter booming in my ears.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The italicised text indicates a flashback.

60 years later

Asgard

Thor

I made my daily, or rather nightly walk down to the Bifrost to the large domed structure, the only place where I could indulge in any thoughts about her.

"Heimdall." I nodded to the gatekeeper. "How is she?" I asked, not needing elaborate about whom I was talking about.

"She is fading, my King. Her life is coming to an end." Heimdall replied, his golden, unfocused eyes directed to the vast expanse of stars and planets spread out before us. I nodded as I bowed my head and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to bottle up my emotions. Emily had lived a full human life, a life that I could have been a part of but had that opportunity ripped away from me…

_I sped past the rows of building, straight to the large tower that proudly beheld the word 'STARK' on it. I managed to reach there in a matter of seconds and land on one of the wide balconies. But when I turned to look into the massive glass window, the scene I was greeted with made my blood run cold._

_"Loki!" I yelled as I crashed through the window, ignoring the glass that bit into my skin as the window shattered. "What have you done?" I asked as I looked upon the collapsed form of Emily, her usually tan skin now as pale as death itself. "What have you done to her?" I hysterically asked as I grabbed a laughing Loki by his shoulders._

_"Nothing to serious." He replies, still laughing manically. "She should wake up soon. Oh, don't give me that look. I didn't kill her; you know how well that approach worked last time. I simply altered her." I looked down at Emily's delicate, shivering form…_

"How long does she have left?" I asked forcing myself out of thought.

"Not long my King. She is quite old for a human." Heimdall replied. "You should go down to her." He suggested.

"I… I shouldn't." I stammered. "She doesn't know who I. My appearance would simply cause her more distress." I added trying to mask my own selfish reasons of wanting to save myself from pain. I couldn't look at her. Not when my heart would only break again.

_"What do you mean 'changed'" I forced my eyes away from Emily. She looked too much like death for me to be remotely comfortable._

_"Why spoil the surprise?" Loki replied still laughing_

_"Tell me!" I violently shook Loki as I felt myself cross the barrier between sanity and hysteria. But I received no reply, simply a malicious chuckle. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Loki produced a knife and jammed it into my lower abdomen, forcing me to release my grip on him. He seemingly took that opportunity to escape and jumped out of the window I had shattered and onto a Chitauri vehicle. I knew that I should go after him but first I had to make sure Emily was okay. I want back to her side and gently shook her shoulder, hoping to rouse her. "Emily?" I gently said but received no response. I wanted to stay by her side but there was a war raging outside and I knew that I had to help. So instead I shifted Emily to one of the large plush sofas, hoping none of the Chitauri would think of attacking the tower. I noticed she still had her knives so I knew that if she woke she would be able to protect herself well enough. Taking one last long look at her I jumped out of the window and joined the battle._

"Is anyone with her?" I blinked back tears that were close to toppling out of my eyes. I had left her alone once and I was doing it all over again.

"The man called Steve Rogers is by her side." Heimdall told me after a moment and I nodded knowing that after I left Steve and Emily had become good friends. I stepped across the floor and stood next to Heimdall. I looked out longingly at the sea of stars wishing, not for the first time, that I had Heimdalls gift of sight.

_The whole battle was a blur. The only thing on my mind was getting back to Emily. Yes, I was concentrating on the invasion and protecting Midgard. But I knew I had to protect her as well. Then there was an explosion and all the Chitauri collapsed as their power source was destroyed._

_Before long I was tearing through the streets and back to the tower. Back to her side._

_"Is she awake?" I demanded as I flew into the room and saw Stark kneeling next to Emily, completely ignoring Loki, who seemed to be smashed into the floor. He could wait, and was obviously going nowhere._

_"Yeah. She is. But she is a bit disoriented, so be careful. Don't, you know, break her or anything." I nodded at Stark, ignoring his remark. As if I would even think of hurting Emily. I waked to her side and lowered myself to a kneeling position. "Emily?" I whispered and cupped her face. Slowly her eyes flickered open, revealing her magnificent but slightly unfocused green irises. "Are you okay?" I asked but received the most unexpected response. Emily at first blinked a few times and then suddenly her eyes hardened and she jumped off the couch, pushing me down in the process._

_"Stark. Who the hell is he?" She asked, looking at me with not even a shred of recognition._

"My King." Heimdalls words snapped me back to the present. "I am sorry…" he trailed off, not even need in to say more. I knew. I knew this day, this moment was coming. But this knowledge didn't lessen the blow. And that was when the tears came as I slowly sunk to my knees. I let myself indulge in my sorrow before forcing myself to stand.

"I… I should go to father. He would want me to finalise my engagement to Sif. I suppose I no longer have any excuse to delay it." I told the gatekeeper for no apparent reason. He replied with only a simple nod. I turned and forced my legs to move and even though each step didn't lessen the pain in my heart I knew that while Emily was no longer part of the mortal world she would always be alive in my mind.


End file.
